They say that people who start out singing in the rain end up all wet.

Boy were we excited to start teaching our kids at home! This was going to be fun. We would see their little minds come alive with new found knowledge that would mold them into fine Christian gentlemen.

It turned out to be harder than we imagined. Still, our convictions were strong and we were steadfast. We made it past Christmas and New Year’s Day with some enthusiasm left but made the mistake of looking at the calendar. Easter isn’t till when? We have how much left to do? (Did I mention that it was harder than we thought it would be?)

One day, feeling overwhelmed and at the end of her strength, my wife was telling a friend about her discouragement. The friend was a public school teacher. She laughed. Here comes the “what ever possessed you to try this at home” speech. She realized what a mistake it was to confide her failure to, of all people, a public school teacher. Her mind was racing for an excuse to cut the conversation short when she heard the words “All teachers feel that way at this time of the year!” To this day I wonder what the look on her face must have been. “Wow! Really?” she replied. “You mean this is normal?” What a relief to know we weren’t failing our children. We would make it.

Every year thereafter, somewhere between Christmas and Easter, these words would filter into the mind of a woman in need of a second wind. Eventually we got used to it.

Hint. Don’t look too far ahead. Take one day at a time. When the last work was completed we would look back and say with enthusiasm “that wasn’t so bad.”

Usually by the end of summer we couldn’t wait to start dancing in the rain again.